Harsh Light
by summerbaytroubles
Summary: Evelyn Romero was just a waitress, comfortably living a reasonably normal life. However one day, the destruction and pain caused by the man in the blue and red outfit had turned her life upside down, leaving her emotionally scarred, although she constantly refuses help for it. Then her life gets that much worse and more complex when she meets a reporter, by the name of Clark Kent.
1. Chapter 1 - Clark

No way out. There was no way out. The dust was building, Evelyn's heart was pounding, her lungs felt like they were about to collapse completely. There was no, way, out. It was starting to get extremely hot in the kitchen, as destroyed as it was. A whistling sound pierced through the air – something was about to explode. Rubble was surrounding her, it was beginning to get too small in there – the claustrophobia was settling in. It was her time to die and there was no way out.

…

The hospital room was silent as Evelyn picked her clothes out. She was finally going home. It was almost essential that she left, since there was no space for her anymore. The hospital was filling up quickly – the incident in Metropolis had caused more causalities than they had expected and so the numbers were doubling and tripling by the minute. Her mother Katherine, who was also a nurse, walked into the room with her release forms. "Evelyn, I need you to sign this," she muttered, walking in with the papers. Evelyn glanced up from where she was packing the rest of her belongings. She didn't look bothered.

"Okay, leave them on the side," she mumbled back. "I'll sign them when I can." Katherine did as she was told before looking up to the small television in the corner of the room. The news was on – it was about Superman again. He had caused yet more destruction and more casualties than ever before.

"This idiot," Katherine shook her head in irritation. Evelyn looked up briefly and looked straight back down again, uninterested. Katherine frowned at her reaction. "You know he's the reason you could've died? He's-" Evelyn zipped up her bag as forcefully as she could and turned to face her mother.

"Please. I don't care. I just want to go home and sleep. I'm sorry, I'll call you tomorrow," she yawned in a hurry. Before Katherine could say anything else, Evelyn had signed off the documents, tied her hair up in a messy ponytail and left the room with her things.

…

"So that's two black coffees and three muffins, that will be $6.40 please," Evelyn smiled, handing over the order and waiting for the money to be passed from the stressed out middle aged woman across the counter.

"Terrible tragedy isn't it?" she was muttering to herself as she rummaged through her purse to find her money.

"I'm sorry?" Evelyn blinked, not understanding a word of what she was talking about.

"The incident last week – it was a terrible tragedy," the woman repeated, handing the money over and nodding to the television screen that were once again displaying the awful events.

"Oh, oh yeah. I actually had to leave my previous job because-" Evelyn trailed off, shaking her head. "It doesn't matter. Thanks." The woman just smiled and left the café without another word. Martha then came out from the kitchen with another order. She noticed Evelyn's face was darker than usual.

"Evelyn, is everything okay?" she hummed. Evelyn jumped at her sudden words and attempted to gain composure by changing the receipts in the machine.

"S-sorry, everything's fine." Martha opened her mouth as if to say something more when the bell over the front door rang, meaning someone was walking in. Both the women looked over to see Clark Kent walk through, pushing his glasses higher up on his face. Evelyn had no idea who he was, but she did know that he was extremely striking. Coughing slightly, he walked over to the counter, straight to Evelyn.

"Morning," he nodded awkwardly. Evelyn gave a polite nod back. "Could I please order…um…twelve coffees? All black, no sugar." Evelyn raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow and went to it. As soon as Evelyn turned around, Martha started speaking to him. She tried not to eavesdrop but she had to.

"Try not to let it get you down, Clark," Martha was whispering. Evelyn just prepared the coffees and then turned back around. Clark found himself staring at her in awe, unbeknownst to himself. Martha glanced between the two of them before she put two and two together. "Oh, Clark this is Evelyn. Evelyn, this is my son," she suddenly introduced them both with a kind smile. Clark immediately held out his hand and Evelyn shook it slowly. He had an extremely firm handshake.

"Nice to meet you," she smiled. "I'm new here. I had to move out of my previous job."

"How comes?" Clark asked curiously, taking the coffees from her.

"The incident last week…my old café was completely destroyed," she shrugged, trying not to look bothered. Clark's face went hard and Martha's face fell. Evelyn frowned at them both anxiously, assuming she had said something wrong. "S-s-sorry, did I say something wrong?" Martha smiled and shook her head quickly.

"No…Clark, how are you planning to take all these drinks back to the office by yourself? Evelyn, why don't you go and help Clark take them back?" she suggested swiftly, turning around and giving her the other full cup holder. Evelyn took it and nodded obediently. It was a weird request but she had just gotten this job, she didn't want to mess it up already so naturally she did as she was told. Clark shuffled to the side awkwardly so that Evelyn could come out from behind the bar, before taking up the two other holders and beginning to walk out the door.

"How far are we going?" Evelyn asked curiously, trying to keep up with him. Clark remembered that he was meant to be walking with her, and not in front of her, so quickly slowed down.

"Just down the block, not far," he told her once they had caught up to each other. There was an uncomfortable silence, only broken by the wind howling through the air. They walked past the destroyed part of town, their footsteps crunching over the dusty rubble as hard working builders attempted to rebuild what appeared to be the foundation of a building. "Did anyone you know…die in the accident?"

"No," Evelyn mumbled back. "Luckily. What about you? You guys went really quiet when I brought it up beforehand. I know it's none of my business but…" Clark avoided her eye contact and just shook his head as they approached the huge building.

"No. I didn't," he coughed. He squinted up at the building and let out a relieved sigh. "Well this is it. Thank you for all of your help."

"Don't you want me to help you carry them up to your floor?" Evelyn pointed out with a little amused smile on her face. Clark raised an eyebrow. He couldn't argue – it only made sense. They went up the lift in silence, an incredibly awkward silence. Then they got on the floor they needed to – and was welcomed by Perry White's booming voice.

"Clark! How long does it take to get coffee?" He then noticed who he was with. "Is this why? You took time off to get a date first?" Evelyn flushed a bright red and winced as Clark clenched his beautiful jaw and stared at the floor uncomfortably.

"She's not my…uh…" he trailed off. "She just helped me carry the coffee here." Evelyn nodded on the side as if what she said would make a difference. Clark put his cup holder down, turned to her and took what she was holding. "Thanks for coming," he whispered.

"Anytime Clark," Evelyn smirked slightly, nodding to him and White before leaving in a flash.

 **A/N: New story! It's a world where Lois and Clark are no more…and it's going to get big. It runs in order with Batman v Superman! Tell me what you think so far, it's just an intro.**


	2. Chapter 2 - Burns

"Did you get there alright?" Martha asked Evelyn as she walked back into the café. Evelyn nodded and went to pick up her apron, throwing it back over her head and quickly tying it behind her waist in one motion.

"Yeah. He nearly got in trouble with his boss though," she let out a little chuckle. Martha frowned as Evelyn started up the Espresso machine and hummed a little tune to herself.

"What did his boss say?" Evelyn looked up at her and felt her cheeks tinge a light pink.

"Her boss thought he was on a date," she admitted, diverting her eyes back to the coffee machine in front of her.

"A date?" Martha laughed as she crossed her arms, leaning against the other side of the bar. Evelyn nodded and gave a little amused giggle back. There was no denying that Clark was beautifully sculpted but…that was all. His personality wasn't altogether there yet because he seemed so shy, and she didn't expect to see him again anytime soon. She really wasn't interested. There were other things that she had to sort out within herself before she could be in a relationship of any sort.

Still, deep down, she knew that if the opportunity to date him was right there in front of her - she wouldn't exactly decline.

"Well, you two would make an adorable couple," Martha quietly pointed out with a small smile. Evelyn dropped the coffee mug she was holding so that it bounced into the sink as soon as the words left Martha's mouth.

"Martha, you're not about to set me up with your son," Evelyn drawled whilst picking up the mug and going back to making the coffee. "You cannot. I won't let you in fact." Martha laughed again as she picked up the dishcloth from next to the sink and started wiping down the surfaces.

"I can't help what Clark feels," she hummed innocently. Evelyn rolled her eyes and shook her head, knowing that Martha was just teasing her at this point.

"Well would you look at that, my shift is done!" she giggled at Martha's cheeky smile. "But, I will leave you with the idea of your son and I getting married!" Martha picked up a moist chocolate chip muffin from behind the cake stand next to her and chucked it over.

"Oh, I can imagine the grandchildren already," she grinned as she watched Evelyn catch the muffin, take off her apron and grab her leather bag and raincoat with dancing eyes.

"Keep imagining. Not gonna happen. Goodbye Martha," Evelyn laughed before sweeping out of the dimly lit shop.

…

Evelyn opened the door to her studio apartment with a yawn and waited for her cat to walk over to her, which he did. "Hey Bruce," she cooed at her beautiful Siamese cat. Bruce stretched his back before casually lying down in front of her as a hello. Evelyn smiled at him and carefully stepped over so that she could get past. She whistled another tune as she walked over to the kitchen to turn on the kettle, and flicked the television on so that she could have some noise in the background. She wasn't expecting it to be the news, and it put her off slightly. Of course the news anchors were addressing the recent tragedy to hit Metropolis, with the gravest looks on their faces. Evelyn knew she should've turned it over but found that she couldn't, as much as she tried to.

"And the death toll for the Metropolis Incident has officially hit two hundred and sixty, with an unconfirmed number still critically ill," the reporter informed. Evelyn felt her heart plummet. The walls were getting too small all of a sudden and she heard a white noise ringing in her ears. She distantly heard her breathing hitch in her throat and found that her hand, which was on the handle of the now boiled kettle, was shaking involuntarily. Deep breaths, deep breaths, but it wasn't working. It, wasn't, working. Then she remembered the lasers. She saw the red lasers. Flaming hot. They nearly hurt her, they nearly killed her, they-

Evelyn scared herself as she let out a piercing scream and felt something scalding hot slap onto her wrist. Her eyes shot to where the pain hit her the most and she gasped sharply. Her skin was raw red and looked like it was bubbling and blistering up, leaving Evelyn to stagger back in complete shock. She was too stunned to realise what had happened and it left her in a state of total confusion. Trying to make sense of it all, Evelyn glanced at her right hand and saw the kettle still there, with hot water sloshed over the side. Then, she realised – she was shaking so much during her panic attack that she had accidentally burnt herself with boiling hot water.

Then, the pain really kicked in.

…

"Evelyn," her best friend Lily panted once she had skidded across the polished hospital floor to where Evelyn was getting bandaged up by her mother. She looked up with a small forced smile before looking back down at the floor.

"What are you doing here?" she hummed casually.

"I called her, Ev," Katherine told her before Lily could even think about answering. Evelyn rolled her eyes and said nothing whilst Lily took a closer look at the blistering burn that her mother was tending to, which was now covered in a cooling gel.

"How did you do this? That looks awful," she breathed, placing a hand over her mouth.

"It is. She burnt her wrist, she's lucky to only have what she has," Katherine told Lily as if Evelyn wasn't sitting right in front of her.

"How did she do it?" Lily frowned back.

"Oh I am sitting RIGHT HERE," Evelyn snapped.

"Well tell us how you did it then!" Lily exclaimed, slamming herself down into the armchair in the corner of the room. Katherine looked up as she finished dressing the burn, also interested in what the reason was since Evelyn refused to tell her.

"It was just an accident," Evelyn shrugged them both off as she stood up and grabbed her coat. "Thanks ma." She really didn't want everyone making a fuss over something that she knew was her fault. If she told them how it happened, they would try and get her help and she didn't want that.

"No, I'm concerned Evelyn," Katherine cut her off abruptly. "You come to me in floods of tears, having a panic attack with a huge burn on your wrist. You can't pretend that you're okay." Lily raised her eyebrows when the words 'panic attack'' left Katherine's mouth.

"You're still having panic attacks?" Lily hissed, not very discretely. Evelyn groaned and Katherine's eyes narrowed.

"Still?" she repeated. "Why still? When did you start having panic attacks?"

"After that flying FREAK caused all of that stuff to happen downtown," Lily explained to Evelyn's mother under her breath. "She says she can see the red lasers and-"

"ALRIGHT, I'm leaving. I don't have time for this. Thanks again ma, I gotta go and get some sleep, been a long day!" Evelyn trilled, already letting herself out of the hospital doors so that the girls couldn't say anything else. Before she knew it, she was outside in the rain with an aching arm and an uncomfortable disposition. She panted as she grabbed her arm and bit down on her lip at the constant pain. Whoever the flying man was and whatever he wanted it didn't matter…she never, ever wanted to see him again.

But she found herself daydreaming about Clark, as much as she thought she wouldn't. She definitely wanted to see _him_ again.

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you guys see where I'm going with the Clark/Superman/Evelyn storyline. I love writing about Evelyn, she's one of my favourite characters that I've ever written about in any of my stories by far! Let me know how you found this**


	3. Chapter 3 - Dinner

Evelyn walked into the bar early the next morning, ready for the day ahead. Her hair was in a high ponytail but messily, so a few loose strands of hair still hung over her face - and she was wearing a black skater dress. Her arm was still bandaged up but she walked on like she didn't even notice. What she wasn't expecting was to walk in and see Clark sitting at the bar and chatting to his mother. He looked great - he must've had a day off, since he was wearing a simple black top and jeans, somewhat casual. But the top really highlighted his muscles, tightening slightly around his biceps. Martha looked up and her face broke out into a knowing smile once Evelyn walked in. "Evelyn! Welcome back!" she beamed with her arms outstretched. Evelyn felt her cheeks tinge pink as Clark glanced behind him at the mention of her name and gave her a slightly awkward wave. Evelyn pulled herself together and smiled brightly in response, not wanting it to be uncomfortable for him.

"Morning Martha! Morning Clark," she hummed casually as she took off her jacket and hung it up. Clark found that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her, whereas Martha immediately noticed her bandaged arm and frowned.

"Sweetie, what happened?" she asked, gesturing toward it. Clark's eyes wandered to the injury and his eyebrows shot up.

"Oh, just burnt myself last night, really stupid of me," Evelyn waved them both off with a small smile. Clark squinted his eyes slightly but said nothing.

"Evelyn, you don't usually do stuff like that," Martha muttered. "I mean you can't work with a burnt wrist. That's gotta be painful-"

"Ma, she looks fine," Clark mumbled to his mother with a smirk. "She wouldn't be here if it still hurt her." Evelyn shot him a quick grateful smile before going to start up her coffee machines.

"Clark, you got a day off?" she started up conversation as casually as possible. Clark cleared his throat before answering.

"Uh, yeah, today and tomorrow. It's not like I'm missing out on much. The company is producing the same old stories anyway," he shrugged.

"Flying devil this that and the other," Evelyn guessed lightly. Clark nodded with a small smile. "Yeah it's the same stuff I see every time I turn on my TV. Getting real sick of it." Martha watched them converse with a small smirk on her face as she stirred the chocolate cake batter.

"Haha, you and me both," Clark agreed.

"Hey guys, you know tonight they're reopening that restaurant down the way? I can't remember what it's called but I know they're bringing it back," Martha swiftly remembered, gesturing to the bundle of leaflets and posters sitting on the countertop. Evelyn frowned and went to flick through them, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"Oh the Whiteflag Cuisine? Yeah, I heard about that," Clark hummed.

"Never heard of it," Evelyn shook her head.

"The food's pretty amazing," Clark yawned. Then his eyes glinted slightly. "Did you...wanna come along to the opening tonight?" Evelyn was so caught off guard by his invitation that her cheeks flushed that bright red again and she dropped the leaflets she was holding. Her eyes shot towards Martha who held her hands up in what looked like mock surrender.

"Hey, I was meant to go too," she told her with a grin. Evelyn felt her breathing regulate again once she realised this wasn't a date.

"O-oh, I see," she quickly spoke.

"I mean if you wanted it to just be you-" Martha began.

"MARTHA," Evelyn hissed before turning back to the patiently waiting amused faced Clark. "Erm...yes, Clark, I would love to come tonight," she beamed, graciously accepting his invitation.

"Great," he grinned, nodding in confirmation.

"I'll meet you at the venue," Evelyn smiled, taking the leaflet from the bar surface so that she had the address. Clark nodded at her and stood up.

"You going already?" Martha frowned at her son.

"Yeah," Clark hummed. "Got places to be." Evelyn watched Martha nod casually, as if she remembered he had something to do.

"Alright. Bye son," she muttered, kissing him on the cheek.

"Bye. Bye Evelyn," he saluted her with a grin.

"Bye Clark," Evelyn chuckled, giving him a wave. Once he had left properly, Evelyn spun around to face Martha, who she knew was already laughing to herself.

"Whaaaaaat?"

"Martha, there's no way those leaflets were there coincidentally," Evelyn groaned, slumping onto the counter. "You definitely put them there, don't tell me otherwise."

"Oh as if I would ever do something as devious as that," Martha tutted playfully, before walking into the kitchen.

...

Evelyn knew that she was probably overdressed, but she didn't care. She was wearing a dark blue bodycon dress that clung onto her in all the right places with black heels, and she decided to straighten her dark chocolate hair so that it cascaded over her shoulder with a side fringe carefully hiding one eye. It's something she did for protection reasons. She mentally felt safer behind the barrier of small things like her hair or what she was wearing. It was all an act, but she didn't care. Anything to make her seem stronger than she felt was all that mattered.

"Bruce," she called out to her cat as she grabbed her purse. Her cat looked up from where he was lazily lounging on the sofa. "I'll be back soon okay? Pray for me to whatever god you have." Bruce let out a soft 'meow' and stared at her before going back to licking his paw as if he was never interrupted. Evelyn rolled her auburn eyes and left the apartment, locking it behind her. The evening sky was beautiful, but she regretted the fact that she would have to go into town. She couldn't have a panic attack tonight, she really couldn't. Not in front of people - not in front of Clark.

So Evelyn kept her head down, refusing to look at what used to be the pet shop and what used to be the school full of happy kids. She refused to look at what used to be the supermarket where she got her food every week, and what used to be the buildings for the bustling bankers. She point blank refused, keeping her eyes on the pavement underneath her - but somehow found herself face to face with her biggest demon. Outside her completely destroyed coffee shop. "Oh, you've got to be joking," she muttered, feeling her breath hitch in her throat. Then she glanced behind her and saw the brand new towering restaurant across the road, with a line of people outside of it and paparazzi on the other side of them. Evelyn dragged herself away from the cafe and found herself absentmindedly walking over what appeared to be the grand reopening. She looked up at it properly - and shuddered as she suddenly realised where exactly she was. But her thoughts were interrupted by a light tap on her right shoulder. Evelyn spun around and was taken aback to see Clark standing there - in a suit. A full on black suit. So she thankfully felt nowhere near as dressed up as she could've been.

"Good evening Evelyn," he smiled.

"Hi...Clark," Evelyn trailed off as she found herself gazing into his beautifully blue eyes.

"You look incredible," Clark told her, his tone verging on wistful. Evelyn ducked her head and gave a humble smile.

"Thank you. So do you...all of this for a grand opening! We clearly took the idea of overpriced steak very seriously," she giggled. Clark laughed and shook his head.

"Yeah well, Daily Planet actually wanted me to write an article on the place," he told her.

"That's why you're dressed like Bruce Wayne?" Evelyn frowned playfully.

"No," Clark continued to chuckle, which Evelyn admittedly loved the sound of. He wasn't even too sure what she was talking about but he loved the fact that they were clearly hitting it off. "I'm dressed like Bruce Wayne because we're going undercover. They've secured us one of the elite tables on the top floor." Evelyn raised her eyebrows and her plump lips went into an 'o' shape, impressed.

"Right- hang on, where's Martha?" she suddenly remembered.

"She couldn't make it apparently," Clark grimaced. It was evident that he was just as embarrassed by his mother's moves as Evelyn was, which calmed her down significantly.

"Of course she couldn't," she smiled to herself. "Should've seen that coming. But alright. What alias are we going under tonight then?" Clark's eyebrows shot up as he realised that Evelyn was actually up for this.

"Oh, Mr and Mrs...Westling. Apparently," he coughed.

"That's the best they could do?" Evelyn sighed, shaking her head at the sad excuse of a name.

"Yeah it's awful," Clark agreed with a grin. "Oh! And you need to wear this." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the most beautiful diamond ring that Evelyn had ever seen, with a gold band and slipped it onto her finger discreetly, so that no one would see.

"WOAH. Erm...why?"

"Helps with the realism apparently," Clark shrugged. "Don't ask."

"This is not a bad job at all," Evelyn breathed as she continued to admire the ring on her own finger.

"Yeah, it has it's perks." He held out his arm and Evelyn braced herself before taking it. She tried not to seem fazed by the muscles, but it was almost impossible. They were there, they were bulging through his suit. They were prominent. Clark led her up the steps to the security guard with his checklist behind the desk. "Evening. Reservation for two - Mr and Mrs Westling?" The security guard saw their names on the papers, glanced at them and the first thing he saw was the brightly shining diamond rock on Evelyn's ring finger and decided that was enough to let them in.

"Top floor, table 12," he nodded, lifting the rope and letting them through. Clark thanked him and led Evelyn through the revolving doors, onto the ground floor and then into the elevator. Once the metal doors shut on them, Evelyn let out the breath she was holding in.

"WHAT EVEN WAS THAT," she panted. "That was petrifying! How do you do that with the risk of getting caught?" Clark raised an eyebrow and pressed the floor number.

"I have a lot of practice," he shrugged.

"Clearly," Evelyn tutted, still admiring the ring. "Tell me this ring isn't real, Clark."

"It's not real."

"Really?"

"No. It's real," Clark grinned as they stopped at the right floor and the doors opened. "Come on. Table 12." He held out his arm and Evelyn took it again so that they could exit the elevator together. Table 12 was right by the huge glass windows, allowing them to see the entire city below them lit up in the night sky. Clark pulled out Evelyn's chair for her so that she could sit down before going to sit opposite her. A waiter approached them immediately with two bottles of wine in an icy coolers and left them with menus.

"Wow, these prices are no joke," she hummed to herself as her eyes scanned the French words in front of her.

"All paid for," he interrupted her thoughts. Evelyn put down the menu and sighed, knowing that this time two months ago she would've just been looking up at this place from her place in that dingy little cafe. She looked back at the menu and noticed they had a brand new tag line. ' _We won't let lasers stop us serving you good quality food!'_ Evelyn let out an amused laugh and put the menu back down.

"It's good that businesses are getting themselves back up on their feet after this whole disaster," she whispered, more to herself than anyone else.

"Mmm," was Clark's vague response. He put down his own menu and Evelyn noticed that it looked like he was fighting against himself to say something.

"What?" she encouraged him with a smile.

"I...uh…," Clark cleared his throat, "…what's your opinion on Superman?" he found himself asking against his will. Evelyn raised her eyebrows and put both of her hands under the table so that she could trace patterns on her palms to prevent a full blown panic attack, and took a deep breath before answering.

 **A/N: Okay so Evelyn might just be one of my favourite fictional characters ever. Fact. I love her. I've written a lot for this story (I was on holiday with no signal so it gave me enough time to write) and her character development is going to be incredible. I will update again next week! – J X**


	4. Chapter 4 - Close

"Superman?" she repeated slowly. Clark just sat there, patiently waiting for her to speak. "He…well. He did what he did and now look where we are, right?"

"Right. Of course, he caused destruction, awful destruction but…don't you think he could've been trying to do something else?" Clark asked casually.

"Like what?" Evelyn scoffed.

"Like saving us all from a bigger danger?" he tried.

"What, you're saying he's basically misunderstood?" Evelyn asked him in disbelief, her finger tracing more abrupt patterns with more corners than swirls at that point.

"I'm saying that people aren't thinking about what could've been the bigger problem," Clark worded carefully. Evelyn squinted her eyes at him, trying to figure out where all this was coming from. It all seemed so sudden and incredibly deep for no reason.

"Okay…even if there was a larger threat-" she began.

"There was – Zod," Clark reminded her. Evelyn stared at him, baffled on how he could possibly remember details like that. Then she remembered he was a reporter, some of the things were just in his nature to never forget. Whereas she was eager to forget it as soon as it happened, just because of the emotional attachment that came with it all.

"Right…that doesn't make a difference to the people that lost their loved ones to the destruction he caused to eliminate Zodge, whether he was the bigger threat or not. In fact it doesn't really matter to those people what the bigger threat was."

"Zod," Clark corrected her with a slight sigh. "So you actually believe he's a terrorist? Superman, I mean." Suddenly Evelyn saw a flash of the red lasers and shuddered, knowing it was all in her head.

"A t-terrorist?" she coughed. "Well. No. Zod would've been the terrorist, he was trying to inflict terror. I mean your guy…Superman…was trying to save us, according to you. I can go with that. But I'm not gonna call him something as little as clumsy. He did more than accidentally blast a few plant pots, ya know? If he comes on TV and addresses what he's done or whatever…maybe that would work in his favour. But I doubt he would do that anytime soon. He just doesn't seem to care about it, is what I guess I'm trying to say." Clark clenched his jaw and nodded, swiftly diverting his attention back to his menu. Evelyn went back to her own before thinking of something and looking up again. "Wait, why does it matter so much?" Clark cleared his throat and his eyes met hers again.

"I just hate seeing the good guys portrayed as the bad guys," was all he said quietly.

"How do you know he's a good guy?" Evelyn frowned.

"Just a hunch," Clark shrugged off the question casually.

"So you try and change peoples' minds about this guy, based on a hunch?" Evelyn guessed, bringing her hands to her hair so that she could fix it. She always found herself slightly intimidated under his gaze.

"Not everyone's mind. Changing your mind will be enough for me," he hummed, eyes darting back to his menu again just in time for Evelyn to blush.

…

"Thank you for tonight Clark," Evelyn smiled once he had walked her right outside her building.

"No, thank you for coming," Clark nodded, standing there awkwardly. "I'm…sorry the conversation got so heavy so quickly. I won't bring up Superman again. That was totally unnecessary of me." Evelyn laughed and ran her fingers through her hair. The fact that he cared so much about stressing her out that night actually meant something to her.

"No problem," she assured him. "It was interesting talking about it with someone that shares the opposite view to…well, 90% of the world right now." Evelyn turned around and put her key into the door.

"Wait, Evelyn," Clark suddenly interrupted her. Evelyn spun back around again and her heart skipped a beat as she realised how close Clark now was to her. "Did you…wanna do this again sometime? With me? Well, obviously with me, I didn't mean…uh…" he trailed off awkwardly, as if he was too scared of messing this up. Evelyn's eyes went wide and her mind raced a thousand thoughts per second. She told herself this wasn't going to happen, but it looked like it was going to. Like she said before, if the opportunity showed itself, she wouldn't exactly refuse. She couldn't. Now his personality was showing a little bit more as well and she did like him, let alone how amazingly attractive he was. Clark was just standing there, the longer she took to answer, the more he felt like he had ruined the whole thing already.

"I would love to," she finally agreed quietly. The way Clark's eyes lit up absolutely made her heart melt.

"Great! I'll uh…see you around?" he grinned. Evelyn giggled and opened her front door.

"Yeah, see you around."

…

Evelyn found that she was so much happier the next day. Her nerves will still all over the place, but her heart was pretty much full. Martha noticed her beaming face the next morning as she skipped into the café with a grin plastered on her face. "Wow, eventful night?" Martha guessed with a smile, although she already knew the answer.

"Your son is a very, very nice man," Evelyn informed her as she shoved on her apron.

"Oh but when I try and tell you that, I'm being intrusive," Martha rolled her eyes playfully. Evelyn stuck out her tongue and went straight to icing the cupcakes of the day. "So, what happened?"

"He took me to this really fancy restaurant," she began with a shy giggle as she focussed on the thick icing as it swirled on the cupcakes. "And we had a nice long conversation." Martha raised an eyebrow and flung her dishtowel across the counter.

"Conversation about what?" she asked curiously.

"Mainly about Superman," Evelyn bit her lip as she thought back to the night. "In fact there was a large portion of the discussion about Superman. But I didn't mind, it was actually interesting. My opinion on him hasn't changed though, as much as I think Clark wanted it to. I doubt it ever will." Martha's eyes widened and she bit her bottom lip as the café door opened once again. Evelyn glanced up and blushed as Clark walked in, taking off his jacket so that his muscles were bulging out of his tight white top.

"Oh, hello son! I forgot to say, Evelyn, Clark is going to be be helping us today," Martha smiled suddenly as Clark hung his jacket up on the coat rack.

"Oh…hi," Evelyn breathed at the sight of him again.

"Morning," Clark saluted her with a shy wink. "How are you?"

"I'm great, thank you," Evelyn nodded, going back to the cupcakes. "Don't you have work today?"

"This is work," Clark grinned as he walked behind the counter to join her. "I have to find out what I can from the people that visit here often and write it up for tonight."

"Find out about what? People's opinions on Superman?" Evelyn challenged him with a playful smirk. Martha quickly smothered the cough that was about to exit her mouth and decided to start noisily cleaning out the coffee machine.

"How did you know?" Clark chuckled, which made Martha's head snap back up in the shock of it all. She clearly wasn't expecting him to take that comment so lightly.

"I know you too well Clark Kent," Evelyn giggled, finishing the batch of cupcakes and starting on the next one. Martha caught Clark's eye and they both glanced away awkwardly before Evelyn could catch it properly.

They both knew that wasn't true – Evelyn didn't really know Clark…at all.

 **A/N: I started university again and found it difficult to continue writing, but now I'm back in the swing of things, the story is back! Thank you SO much for the follows and reviews, honestly it makes my day. – J x**


	5. Chapter 5 - Guilt

Evelyn rushed into the hospital and Clark was right behind her, very close to her in case she needed any kind of support. She didn't seem to want to stop, or talk. She was walking at speed, like every second counted, which it did. Her mother Katherine met her just outside of the ward that her little sister Alana was in. Katherine's hair was tied up in a messy bun and she looked drawn out, stressed. When she saw Evelyn, her eyes widened as if she wasn't expecting her to be there. "Don't look at me like that," Evelyn mumbled, giving her a huge hug. "I wasn't going to not visit."

"I know. I'm sorry, we all had our doubts. Who's this?" Katherine asked as she shot Clark an unsure smile.

"This is my…boyfriend. Clark," Evelyn introduced them both quickly, deliberately not looking anywhere near Clark's face to see his reaction to her calling him her boyfriend already. Clark didn't react and simply shook Katherine's hand firmly.

"Oh. Hello Clark, I'm Katherine, Evelyn's mother."

"Pleasure to meet you," Clark said politely as he let go and wrapped an arm around Evelyn again. "I'm terribly sorry about your daughter."

"Thank you. We're all just praying that she'll be able to hang on in there," Katherine smiled sadly, leading them both into the actual hospital room where Alana lay, looking worse than ever. Her eyes had practically sunken into her skull and she couldn't possibly get any paler. She still recognised her older sister though, despite all of the damage done to her brain and body.

"Hey 'lana," Evelyn whispered, going to sit next to her and grabbing her small hand. Alana smiled weakly.

"Hi," she managed to wave. "Hi Evelyn's boyfriend."

"Hi, I'm Clark…pleasure to meet you," Clark smiled, standing behind Evelyn's chair. "How do you feel?"

"Fine," Alana lied, studying Clark as if he was a piece of art. "You look…magical." Clark raised an eyebrow and Evelyn smiled down at her, admiring how she still managed to stay her cheeky self.

"He is magical," she joked, biting back her tears and glancing up at Clark who simply looked amused at the entire situation.

"Do you think I could be magical? Like a magician?" he had to ask, crossing his arms.

"No. Like…you can run really fast…or like you can fly. You look so cool. I can't explain it," Alana blinked. She appeared unable to even put her thoughts on Clark into words right now, which both Evelyn and Clark could completely understand but for two totally different reasons.

"Anyway, Alana I think it's time for your medication, Clark and I will just pop to the cafeteria for a sandwich or something okay?" Evelyn suddenly cut off the conversation, standing up and letting go of Alana's weak hand before grabbing Clark's sturdy one instead. Clark furrowed his eyebrows at her sudden change of tone but followed her out anyway, just as the nurse wheeled in the table of medication.

"Why the eagerness to get out?" he asked as he sped up behind her as they both walked down the polished hallway to the awaiting lift.

"Because it was time for her medication," Evelyn answered shortly without even turning back round. Clark sighed and got into the lift with her, waiting until the doors were shut until he spun her by the shoulders and made her look at him properly.

"Why the eagerness to get out?" he asked her again, just a little firmer. Evelyn nibbled on her bottom lip and tore her eyes away from his.

"I don't know if you've noticed but I'm not the biggest fan of flying people," she mumbled awkwardly. It took Clark a split second to realise what she was talking about and he let his hands drop to his side.

"Oh, right. Does…does your entire family think like that?" he asked softly. Evelyn gave a small shrug and jabbed the correct button so that the lift could actually get moving.

"No. Well yeah. My mother does – that's why Alana's in hospital and that's why I'm so…kinda against him. Superman, I mean," she admitted, scratching her shoulder and giving another shrug. Clark bit down on his jaw before asking

"Sorry, did you say that's why Alana's there? The…situation caused her to go to hospital?" he recalled, trying his best to stay calm when really he was anything but. Evelyn gave a short nod.

"She was one of the more unlucky kids in her class. There were worst ones, some of them didn't even…" she shuddered and stopped talking as the lift doors opened and they were greeted by the buzz of the cafeteria. Clark felt completely sick, biting back the urge inside of him to just come out with who he was. But he took one look at Evelyn's face and saw that she didn't need it right now, or ever if that. Instead he grabbed her in a warm hug and kissed the top of her head.

"It will get better," he lied as he felt Evelyn fall comfortably limp in his arms.

"You promise?" she mumbled into his top. Clark took the deepest breath of his life before answering the woman he was convinced that he was falling in love with.

"Promise."

…

It had been 18 months. Evelyn and Clark were the best they had ever been. He had officially moved into her apartment and was now living there officially with her and Bruce, who was still a lazy careless cat. Evelyn still worked for Martha and it was all going perfectly fine, the shop was constantly busy and the locals had learnt to love her. Alana was still in hospital – every time it looked like she was going to better, she didn't. She just ended up getting that much worse. But every time Evelyn started to panic about it, Clark managed to calm her down. Her panic attacks had slowed down, since she successfully avoided any Superman news for the longest amount of time. But it seemed like the further away from the incident she got, the more often it was constantly brought up.

And Evelyn still didn't know the truth – and Clark had no intention of telling her.

On this particular day, Evelyn was working in the café. It was raining outside and the café was rather full, steam fogging up the windows, but Clark was still sitting in there at the bar as he did on many of his days off. Evelyn didn't mind. He was amazing company in between customers. "Ev," Clark began.

"Yeah?"

"What are you doing tonight?" Clark asked curiously, leaning on his hand as he watched her shape the croissants in awe. Her fingers were so swift yet delicate over the uncooked pastry mix and it seriously fascinated him. Evelyn looked up at him and frowned.

"Nothing, why?" she questioned.

"I got a convention that I need to go to in Gotham and I need a partner," Clark told her quietly.

"Oh, sounds like fun. Who's hosting it?"

"Lex Luthor."

"Oh?" Evelyn raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed as she continued to mould the pastries. "Fair enough."

"So did you want to come with me?" Clark offered up with a smile.

"Sure, two questions though," Evelyn began carefully.

"Go on," Clark encouraged her a little apprehensively, unsure of what she was going to ask.

"Firstly, under what name? Secondly – do I get the wear the ring?" Evelyn cheekily smiled up at him.

"Under your name and yes you can wear the ring," Clark chuckled, crossing his arms so that his muscles bulged out again. Evelyn let a surprised laugh and dusted her flour coated hands off under on the counter.

"Under my name?" she repeated. "So we're turning up as…?"

"Clark Kent and his girlfriend Evelyn Romero?" Clark guessed quietly. Evelyn blushed – it was the first time Clark had called her his girlfriend out in public. Even though they were now moved in together and more comfortable with each other, it took them a while to actually confirm their relationship. They hadn't said it out loud because they never had to. They were both private people because there was no need to be anything else. They didn't really have any close friends because they were their own friends. Clark's colleagues didn't even know about Evelyn, and Evelyn's family didn't know too much about Clark. So Clark calling Evelyn his girlfriend so confidently in the midst of other people meant a lot to her. She placed two hands on either side of his chiselled face and brought his face to hers, kissing him gently over the counter.

"Sounds good to me," she murmured against his lips when they broke apart.

"Lovebirds! I got people that need serving," Martha called from the bustle inside the kitchen. Clark rolled his eyes and sat back again as Evelyn picked up her notepad.

"I'm on it Martha," she shouted back. Clark gave her a little wink and continued to watch her serve people and make pastries for the rest of the morning, totally in awe of her presence.

…

"You look amazing," Clark whispered into Evelyn's ear with his hand resting on her lower back as they entered the huge hall. There was the beautiful sound of violins playing peaceful music as the guests milled about, chatting with one another and sipping champagne out of clinking glasses.

"Thanks, so do you," Evelyn smiled just as quietly, trying not the blush too furiously. Clark had somehow convinced her to wear her hair in a tight low side bun, which was way out of her comfort zone as her face ended up being the main focus of her demeanour. She was wearing a strapless cream dress this time, with a low heart neckline. "Oh my god, it's beautiful in here."

"It is," Clark agreed. They stood there in silence, just soaking up the atmosphere around them. Evelyn was about to make a flippant remark about the venue in terms of a wedding when suddenly, Clark noticed a large black car pull up outside of the venue, and the paparazzi went mad, flashes coming from every angle. "Who's that?" he muttered to himself, but Evelyn heard anyway and looked over to where he was.

"That? That's probably just somebody from – oh my GOD it's Bruce Wayne" she hissed, hitting Clark's strong arm excitedly. "The one and only…in the flesh. I LOVE him!"

 **A/N: Thank you so much for reading, reviewing, favouriting and following…. and I am so sorry that this took so long! University is no joke but let's keep the ball rolling aye** **\- J**


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